Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James

Raymond James downgraded shares of Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Vertical Research lowered Marten Transport from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Marten Transport presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.00.

Marten Transport Price Performance

Shares of Marten Transport stock opened at $16.69 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.51 and a beta of 0.77. Marten Transport has a 52-week low of $15.33 and a 52-week high of $21.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.48.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The transportation company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.01). Marten Transport had a return on equity of 5.74% and a net margin of 4.17%. The company had revenue of $246.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $249.11 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Marten Transport will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.80%.

Insider Transactions at Marten Transport

In other news, COO Adam Daniel Phillips sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.34, for a total transaction of $82,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,448 shares in the company, valued at $136,596.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 22.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marten Transport

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Marten Transport by 10.4% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 16,189 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522 shares during the period. Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of Marten Transport during the second quarter valued at approximately $412,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Marten Transport by 6.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 31,275 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,997 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Marten Transport during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,334,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Marten Transport by 54.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 49,991 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $922,000 after acquiring an additional 17,662 shares during the period. 69.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Marten Transport Company Profile

Marten Transport, Ltd. operates as a temperature-sensitive truckload carrier for shippers in the United State, Mexico, and Canada. The company operates through four segments: Truckload, Dedicated, Intermodal, and Brokerage. The Truckload segment transports food and other consumer packaged goods that require a temperature-controlled or insulated environment, as well as dry freight; and regional short-haul and medium-to-long-haul full-load transportation services.